October 30

What happened on October 30 in aviation and space history.

• October 30, 1935

  Model 299 crashes at Wright Field, giving rise to the pilot checklist

  Accident — On 30 October 1935, during a climb-rate evaluation flight, the Model 299 stalled and crashed shortly after takeoff from Wright Field, killing command pilot Major Ployer Peter Hill and, weeks later, Boeing test pilot Leslie Tower. The investigation found the control-surface gust lock had not been released; the accident — later summed up as "pilot error, not the machine's fault" — led directly to the modern written pre-flight checklist still used by pilots today. It also disqualified the Model 299 from the competition, which the Douglas B-18 went on to win.